


It's Hard to Say You're Sorry

by lizardhats



Category: Danger Mouse (Cartoon 1981), Danger Mouse (Cartoon 2015)
Genre: M/M, i dont know how these tags work lol, yes they are stupid yes they are in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22836595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizardhats/pseuds/lizardhats
Summary: Danger Mouse has made a grave error. Penfold let him borrow his precious game console to practice up on Giraffe Warriors 2. Danger Mouse, to nobody’s surprise, dropped and broke the console. His friend couldn’t take it and left for his mom’s house to have some time apart from Danger Mouse. It’s now the agent’s job to go after him and try to convince him to come back, something even he will struggle with.
Relationships: Danger Mouse & Ernest Penfold
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	It's Hard to Say You're Sorry

The Mark V’s engine rumbles to a stop, leaving the pattering of the rain the only sound echoing down the street. Brick townhouses look down on the uneven pavement and dormant cars with dark, sleepy eyes. Rain clouds hide the few stars visible through London’s light pollution.

Dashboard lights cast a subtle glow on Danger Mouse’s unkempt fur. He watches silently as raindrops trace jagged lines down the glass roof. Such bad weather only seems appropriate, considering the gravity of his situation. A quick tap to his eye patch pulls up a holographic page of notes Squawk gave him before he left headquarters. The title flickers at the top – _How to Apologize Like a Normal Person_. Typical. She can never resist a jab at him. He sighs and begins to scan down the page.

 _Listen to what he has to say, and don’t interrupt him_. That seems reasonable. _Be sorry for your actions, not how he reacted_. Alright, that’s doable. Danger Mouse lets his eye drift down to the last point, which is in a much larger font, bolded, underlined, and highlighted. **_DON’T MAKE IT ABOUT YOU, DANGER MOUSE!!!!!_**

He cringes at the aggressive forwardness of Squawk’s advice. It’s almost like she has an intimate knowledge of his self-centered tendencies. On any other day, he would disregard her words as overly emotional and boring. But this is not a normal day. A glance at the game console sealed in a plastic bag reminds him of that.

Another tap retracts the hologram. He runs his hands down his face and lets out a long breath. He’s stalling, and he knows it. He thinks to himself, _come on now, Danger Mouse, you’re the world’s greatest secret agent and you can’t get out of the car and apologize to your best friend? How sad can you get?_ Very sad, apparently. Penfold’s mum’s house is just up the street. It’s the only one with its lower story lights still illuminating the window. The thin curtains are drawn, revealing only hazy silhouettes from within. The car is hardly parked a few meters away, but it may as well be across the country to Danger Mouse.

A few minutes and a lot of thinking later, he finally works up the courage to step into the rain. His white fur flattens to his face, but that could not be further from his mind now. Water soaks through to his feet in seconds. As he plods up to the porch, muted voices piercing through the rain’s ambiance stop him in his tracks. Spy training kicks in, and he darts to the wall. The console presses against his tensed leg. Despite his best efforts to make out a conversation, the voices aren’t low enough to carry through the wall. He pulls himself off the wall with a shake of his head, composing himself once more before facing off with the front door.

Before he can let himself overthink even more than he already has, he knocks on the door, three short raps. The muddled conversation goes quiet. It takes a long moment for the heavy door to creak open. Penfold’s view is obscured by the thin form of his friend fidgeting on the porch.

“Chief…?” His tinny voice holds a twinge of excitement. He seems to catch himself though, as his expression quickly shifts to stern anger. “What are you doing here, Danger Mouse?”

Danger Mouse can’t help but wince at his tone. Penfold hasn’t called him that in years – he must really be angry. He hangs his head low to avoid meeting his friend’s piercing gaze. Words struggle to form on his anxious lips.

“I came to apologize, Penfold. I…” he looks down at the console. Penfold’s arms are crossed tight across his chest. “I realize I wasn’t very respectful of your things, especially something as important to you as your game. I break the professor’s gadgets all the time, but those are _made_ specially for me to break. You let me borrow it and I went and messed it up.” The glare watching Danger Mouse’s every move softens at his last sentence. “It meant a lot to me that you even trusted me in the first place! But I…” his rambling trails off as he runs out of words. “I got it repaired at the game store across the street from headquarters. I hope that makes it up to you.” He presents the bagged console meekly. Penfold takes it, rougher than he usually would. Any momentary excitement he feels is suppressed – he’s still angry with Danger Mouse.

“That was… very kind of you, DM. You better ‘ave learned your lesson about respecting others’ belongings.”

Tension stuffs up the air between them. Danger Mouse bites his lip, glances around, anything to avoid looking at Penfold. It doesn’t take long for the anxious mouse blurt out what’s occupying his mind.

“Tell me what’s really bothering you, Penfold, you know I can’t bear seeing you cross with me!”

He jumps at his friend’s outburst. Danger Mouse notices that his eyes are red and puffy. Penfold’s been crying.

“W-well crikey, DM, you couldn’t’ve asked me that before I left ‘eadquarters?” His little hands start to shake. He’s trying hard to keep his expression stern, but his tough facade is cracking.

“If I knew you were this mad about the game, Penfold, I would have!”

“That’s your problem, DM. I couldn’t care less about this silly game right now, it’s your behavior that I’m mad at – you never think about how your actions are gonna affect other people, _especially_ me! You’re too self-absorbed to notice _anythin’_ , even when I’m cryin’ me eyes out! I love you to pieces, but sometimes I just can’t deal with you!”

Danger Mouse can only watch helplessly as Penfold starts to break down, clumsily wiping his sleeve under his glasses. A pit forms deep in his stomach. It feels awful.

“Oh Penfold, I don’t… I’d never do something to hurt your feelings on purpose. You’re the best friend a mouse could have, and I don’t want you to doubt for a moment that value that.” He wrings his hands. He’s doing his best to avoid any landmines that might set Penfold off. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you around headquarters. It’s too big upstairs for just one person.” Penfold huffs and looks away, doing his best to distract from his quivering lip.

“You really do mean a lot to me, Penfold, I just don’t do a good job showing it. I really am sorry.” Danger Mouse’s voice is uncharacteristically weak – it’s hardly a mutter, now. “I’m always so scared that you’ll get hurt, or kidnapped, or lost… I always say that I’m fearless, but I’m not. I just… never thought that I’d lose you because of something I did.” The mouse covers his face with his hands, squeezing his eye shut to stifle the tears threatening to flow. His normally upright posture has become a self-conscious slouch. He seems much, much smaller than he is.

Danger Mouse feels a hand on his arm. He uncovers his eye to see Penfold just in front of him, worry lines etched in his face. Seeing his best friend concerned for him pushes him over the edge. He kneels and pulls Penfold into a tight hug. Penfold reciprocates, shoving his muzzle into the crook of Danger Mouse’s neck. He rubs his friend’s shuddering back.

“There, there Chief. I forgive you.” Danger Mouse can’t help but smile at Penfold’s words. They maintain the embrace for a minute, both listening to the ambiance of the rain falling around them.

Danger Mouse is the first to pull back. He keeps his hands on Penfold’s shoulders as his familiar, confident grin returns to his face.

“Right then. Any chance I could come inside a moment? I’m still quite damp.”

Penfold giggles. “For that ‘eartfelt apology? _Absolutely_ , Chief.” He leads him inside by the hand, smiling ear to ear.

**Author's Note:**

> The depressing lack of content for DM has pushed my stupid gay brain to make some myself. I haven't posted any writing for probably five years so hopefully my woeful lack of experience in narrative writing doesn't show through too much. Hope you enjoyed anyways :^)


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